Officials believe burglars are targeting high-value homes that appear to be unoccupied and are taking small valuables and jewelry. The incidents have been consistent with \u201cburglary trends\u201d reported across the region, the police department said in a statement<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cSummertime is burglary season,\u201d Lt. Michael Keenan of the Lower Merion Police Department said.<\/p>\n Keenan said the Lower Merion Police Department has seen several burglaries over the last three weeks, but declined to say where in the township they had taken place. The crimes have been consistent with previous patterns of burglaries<\/a> by individuals who drive to wealthy neighborhoods in the Philly area, steal from empty homes, and flee, Keenan said. <\/p>\n The police department has said the crimes \u201cmay be connected to the South American Theft Group.\u201d The Federal Bureau of Investigation has described \u201cSouth American Theft Groups\u201d<\/a> as groups of foreign nationals who overstay visas in the U.S. and commit crimes, including burglaries, often using rental vehicles and fake IDs and documents. <\/p>\n Officials say leaving one\u2019s home vacant for long periods of time can put it at risk for burglaries. Lower Merion\u2019s police department is encouraging residents to use a home alarm, keep lights on timers, make sure mail and packages aren\u2019t piling up outside, and leave a car in the driveway, if possible, when away from home for an extended period of time. <\/p>\n \u201cMake it look like you\u2019re there,\u201d Keenan said. <\/p>\n The Lower Merion Police Department offers programs for residents to help secure their homes. Officers will conduct security inspections around residents\u2019 homes while they\u2019re out of town through the township\u2019s Vacant Home Program<\/a>. All Lower Merion residents are also eligible for a free home security survey through the Home Security Assessment Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n The police department has encouraged residents to report suspicious behavior by calling 911. <\/p>\n Inquirer Lower Merion<\/p>\n A weekly newsletter<\/p>\n Want to get Inquirer Lower Merion straight to your inbox every week? Sign up here for our guide to the news, stories, and events shaping life in your community.<\/p>\n This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer\u2019s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com\/donate<\/a>. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org\/supporters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min Lower Merion\u2019s police department is investigating a string of itinerant burglaries that have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[183,185,184,186,103304],"class_list":["post-240353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-lower-merion-investigating-residential-burglaries-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Inquirer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783592767_800_I_circle_black.png\")
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